Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-08-04
In CAMP.
TIE sRvxxrH.pAYApvHNTIsrs CAMP.
NETTING AT HARRrs0sBURa.
4 Denomination Who Believe This World
Will End with the Present Genera
ton Their History, &c.
fror the Dispatch.

gFor the Dispatch.
The denomition known as tho
Seventh Day Adventists opened their
camp.meeting on pleasant site south
OF Harrisonburg, Va, last week. The
grounds are nicely arranged. There
are number of small dwelling tents
and large pavilion tent fifty by eighty
feet with q seating capacity OF 800.
The first preaching service was held in
the large pavilion Wednesday evening,
July 81. Elder NJ. q. Huffman, OF
Indiana, spoke on the importance of
searching the Scriptures. There were
meetings held each evening during the
remainder of the week, with fair at
tendance from the outside. They held
their Sabbath school at Q A. NJ. on
Saturday, as they observe that day for
the Sabbath. During the day they held
two very interesting Undertakings.
On Sunday there were four services
held. At 1890 A. NJ. Elder T.. Ii.
Gates, from Ohio, spoke from III. Tim
othy iv., IA, especially dwelling on the
first clause of the second verse :
"Preach the Word" At 3P. NJ. Elder
r. ID. Hotel, from Shenandoah coun-
ty, spoke on the Second Coming OF
Christ" proving from large number
of Bible texts that His coming is very
near; but, he stated, that as people
they have no sympathy with "time-
settlers" AT 6 T. Nj. there was very
interesting service held with the chill
dren. 1t was conducted by Miss Hat
tie Annes, from Washington. There
were twenty-five or thirty children in
the class, and all paid strict attention
while she talked to them Of the crea-
ton, the fall of man, the plan of re-
demption, the second coming of the
Saviour, and our final home in the City
of God. There will be other children's
meetings he,d-one o-day "wednesday
at 6 7. NJ. There was a large crowd
on the ground nearly all day, and at
the S:l5 Z. NJ. preaching service the
pavilion was well filed with intensely
interested people. There must have
been 500 who sat and listened,
about one and half hours, while Elder
Huffman again spoke to them. His
subject was 1.-The Saints Inheritance !;
or, The Earth Made New" He holds
that this earth is finally to be the home
of the saved.
The programme Of each day is sub
stantially as follows A. NJ, rising
bell $50, social meeting in large pa
vilion 7, breakfast; 8, prayer in small
tents 9, business pertaining to the
Virginia Conference, Il. and NJ. So
ciety or Sunday School Association /;
1880 A. NJ, preaching 1880 p. NJ,
dinner; $50, preaching ; 4, Bible-read-
ing; 6, children's meeting 8, preach
ing: $3.50, bell for retiring 10, per
feet quiet. The meetings will continue
until August 9th.
THEIR HISTORY.
Seventh Day Adventists, as a de-
nomination, date their rise from about
1917. At present they number about
$4,000. They have over 800 churches,
with about 400 ministers and licen-
tiates, with us many more c0lporters
and missiou-workers. While they
firmly believe III the personal coming
of Christ, they have no date fixed for
that event. Although they believe the
prophecies ale designed to be under
stood, and that i'll the last days great
light Will be shed upon them, "when
men shall run to and fro and know
ledge shall be increased, yet they DO
not believe that any prophetic period
given in the Bible reaches to the com
ing Of Christ or was designed 70 mark
the day or year of that event. They
are avcTse to the teachings OF the
First Day Adventists. Their organiza
ton is very simple. A body OF be-
levers associate together taking the
name Of Seventh-Day Adventists. and
attaching their name to IA covenant to
keep the commandments of God
and the faith of Jesus. The
Bible is their only creed. A
clerk is chosen to keep the records Of
the churches, and an elder, elected by
the vote of the church, is ordained to
look after its spiritual interests. If the
church is large its temporal affairs are
assigned to one ormore deacOns, chosen
by vote of the church for this pur-
pose. They hold that the terms elder,
bishop, and pastor signify the same
officer These need not be ordained
ministers who travel from place to
place to preach the Gospel, and are the
only ones competent to ordmn local
elders and deacons. Their ministers
are called "elders." They claim that
the title reverend" should never be
applied to man that it is found but
once in the Bible, and then is applied
to God only-Psalms cxi, 9.
SABBATH AND THE END OF THE WORLD.
They recognize the Ten Command
hence they observe the seventh day, or
Saturday, rs the Sabbath. They be-
heve in change of heart called con-
version, similar to the faith of the or
thodox churches. Immersion is the
only mode of water baptism recognized
by them. They maintain that life and
immortality are not inherent, but must
be sought and secured by means OF the
gospel, through Jesus Christ. They
maintain that unrepentant sinners who
reject Christ and refuse to obey the
law Of God will perish and be utterly
consumed in the renovating fires OF the
day of God that this earth will be re-
stored to its Edenic glory and become
the eternal home OF the saved, where
pain, death, sin, and sorrow shall be
no more. They believe that the pres
ent generation will witness the coming
OF the Lord and the end OF all things
Their churches in each State are or
ganized into State conferences.
CHURCH AUTONOMY.
The State Conference annually elects
an executive committee Of three or
five, who have the oversight of the
work in the conference during the year.
These various State conferences, en-
bracing several conferences in Europe,
are organized into one General Con-
ference. They annually elect an ex-
ecutiye committee OF seven, who have
the general oversight Of the various
State conferences and missions in all
parts of the world. At present Elder
George j. Butler, of Battle Greek.
Mich, is the president of the General
Conference. Some two or three of the
Executive Committee are in Europe or
some other foreign country most of the
time. They have twenty-eight fully
organized conferences. They have also
missions in Switzerland. Germany